Andrew Weatherall

It's difficult to name a single figure who did more to bridge indie/alternative rock and dance music culture than Andrew Weatherall, one of the most respected DJs of all time. A staple of the British club scene since the '80s and a co-founder of the Boys Own collective during the acid house explosion, Weatherall became highly sought-after behind the decks as well as in the recording studio. He was responsible for landmark productions and remixes for artists such as Primal Scream, Saint Etienne, My Bloody Valentine, the Happy Mondays, and many others. He also co-founded the Sabres of Paradise and Two Lone Swordsmen, both acclaimed and influential acts who merged dub, left-field house, and electro, with releases on Warp as well as their own imprints. Beginning in the late '90s, Weatherall issued several unmixed compilations (including the well-regarded Nine O'Clock Drop) and DJ mixes (such as 2004's Fabric 19), as well as material under his own name, with debut solo album A Pox on the Pioneers arriving in 2009. He continued exploring neo-psychedelia and electro-disco with later projects like the Asphodells and the Woodleigh Research Facility, remaining active until his death in 2020. Phonox Nights, the Woodleigh Research Facility's third album, was posthumously released in 2023. Andrew Weatherall began attending disco parties and soul weekenders as a teenager. His extensive musical knowledge and expanding record collection brought him DJ gigs when he moved to London during the 1980s, and he began writing as a freelance music journalist. Weatherall co-founded a fanzine (and eventually a label) called Boys Own along with fellow DJ Terry Farley, and he became a fixture at club nights such as Danny Rampling's Shoom, Nicky Holloway's Trip, and Paul Oakenfold's Future/Spectrum, all as acid house was taking off in the U.K. These associations led to Weatherall remixing New Order's "Worlds in Motion" and, along with Oakenfold, the Happy Mondays' "Hallelujah." Primal Scream sought out Weatherall for what would become the Top 20 single "Loaded" and production on the groundbreaking Screamadelica. The overwhelming success of Screamadelica led to Weatherall's place as one of the U.K.'s top remixers and producers. After a stint DJ'ing on London's influential KISS-FM, he ran two clubs in London, and in 1993 worked extensively with techno-pop act One Dove. That same year, Weatherall formed the Sabres of Paradise with Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns, which issued a series of pioneering ambient experimental techno singles and EPs on the group's eponymous label (also collected on several Warp Records releases). He co-produced material for Beth Orton's 1996 folktronica benchmark Trailer Park. Following the Sabres' breakup, he formed Two Lone Swordsmen with Keith Tenniswood and the Emissions Audio Output label. After working again with Primal Scream to produce the track "Trainspotting" for the movie of the same name, in 1999 Weatherall mixed the third volume of the Heavenly Presents: Live at the Social series. The disc showcased, as had become the norm, his finger-on-the-pulse awareness of electronic music both old and new. Two Lone Swordsmen signed to Warp, releasing material such as the acclaimed IDM albums Stay Down and Tiny Reminders. Weatherall's unmixed, post-punk-heavy Nine O'Clock Drop appeared in 2000, and minimal techno mix Hypercity arrived on Force Tracks in 2001. After issuing several more mix albums, his debut solo EP, The Bullet Catcher's Apprentice, which spanned from his techno roots to the rockabilly flirtations of later Two Lone Swordsmen material, arrived on his own Rotters Golf Club label in 2006. His first full-length, 2009's A Pox on the Pioneers, was just as genre-bending. In 2013, Weatherall teamed up with Battant's Timothy J. Fairplay as the Asphodells for the album Ruled by Passion, Destroyed by Lust. That year, Weatherall also began curating the annual Convenanza Festival, which was held in a castle in Carcassonne, France. The Woodleigh Research Facility, his duo with longtime collaborator Nina Walsh, released their debut album, The Phoenix Suburb (And Other Stories), in 2015. Weatherall's 2016 album, named Convenanza, was co-written with Walsh. The remix album Consolamentum, which featured reworkings by Fairplay, Solar Bears, Red Axes, and Black Devil Disco Club, arrived later that year. Qualia, Weatherall's final solo album, was released by Höga Nord Rekords in 2017. Weatherall died on February 17, 2020, at the age of 56, due to a pulmonary embolism. The dub single "Unknown Plunderer" and electro EP Pamela #1 appeared shortly after his death. Walsh continued producing music solo as the Woodleigh Research Facility, though 2023's Phonox Nights was a posthumous release of material co-written with Weatherall.
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